


Visiting

by Erika_K



Series: One-shot Collection [1]
Category: Magdalena Eriksson & Pernille Harder, Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-25
Updated: 2019-11-24
Packaged: 2021-01-03 01:30:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21171182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Erika_K/pseuds/Erika_K
Summary: This is not a how-did-they-get-together-story starting in Linköping, instead I will go for one-shots just capturing certain moments. I hope that it will become a series at some point, so that you might be able to put all stories together in chronological order and then you might get their whole story.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I sprinkled in some Swedish, the idea is that it should be self-explanatory from the context. I hope that worked, please let me know, if it doesn't.
> 
> Shout out to IfYouEverFeelOutnumbered for help with some language-stuff. She didn’t proofread the whole thing, though, so all mistakes are mine. (And if you havn't done that yet, go read her story. It's brilliant!)
> 
> I'd love to know, what you think! Please leave comments!

**Autumn 2019**

This flight seemed to be mainly used by people on business trips which ensured that flying seemed to be a common routine for most of them. No unnecessary delays during boarding because someone blocked the aisle. No excited tourists that absolutely wanted a window seat but also needed to use the toilet three times in less than two hours - a dreadful combination for everyone in their row, who might want to use the time on the plane to get some more sleep.

No, none of that this time, everything went swiftly, calmly and smoothly.

After landing Magdalena Eriksson took her luggage from the overhead compartment and followed the other passengers to leave the plane.

She had been used to traveling from an early age. She had had her earliest tournaments that involved overnight stays when she was ten years old. The older and the better she got, the distances and frequencies of her teams’ journeys increased.

By now she wasn’t even sure if she would be able to count the times she had boarded a plane or a bus just this year.

What had been added to all this experience two years ago though, was traveling alone.

She had almost always been in a group. She had known which people would be sitting around her. There was always someone to talk to, someone to wake her up in time if she fell asleep, someone to share the headphones with, if she had forgotten to charge her phone sufficiently before the journey and someone to watch her stuff, when she needed to use the toilet, if they weren’t using charters and there were no strangers around anyway.

Even when she didn’t travel with her team but went on holidays there had always been at least Pernille with her, often also other friends.

But now on the trips between London and Wolfsburg she was alone. It had become a routine by now as well, but she still didn’t like it.

She hadn’t checked in any luggage. The stuff she needed for the short time she would stay fit easily into a backpack. So she just walked by the baggage claim, heading for the exit.

In the beginning they had always picked each other up from the airport when they were visiting. It was great to stand with all the others waiting for their loved ones, just looking forward to the days ahead, wave when they spotted their girlfriend, greet each other as eagerly as was appropriate in public and offer to help her carry the luggage. Then walk to the car park together, smiling, just happy to be together again. Holding hands or walking so close together that shoulders and arms were touching because there shouldn’t be any unnecessary distance anymore, now that she finally, finally was here.

Then there had been schedule problems. No chance to get to the airport, park the car and be there in time for an appropriate welcome. But if she hurried, she might be there 20 minutes after the scheduled landing, maybe 30… It takes a while to get off the plane anyway, doesn’t it?

Well, of course they wouldn’t take later flights and miss valuable hours together just to be adequately picked up at the airport. So some time after who ever was visiting got out of the airport building, the girlfriend’s car would come rushing into the pick-up/drop-off area. The one visiting would jump in and they would be greeting each other with the necessary intensity after all the time apart, until they remembered that other cars were waiting for their space and they would eventually rush off.

Just to sit in the car together again was such a comfortable, familiar feeling. They had spent so much time together like that. Driving together to trainings and team meetings in Linköping or on shorter and longer journeys mostly through Sweden and Denmark to visit their families or on shorter holiday trips. One behind the wheel, the other one on duty for the music playlist and for opening bottles and snacks for the driver. 

Just settling into the car together like that again already felt like coming home.

This time even getting picked up in front of the airport hadn’t worked out. Magda elbowed her way through all the people being hugged and welcomed by family members, friends or lovers and found her way to the train station.

There had been situations like these several times before already, where the one being visited had appointments until the last minute and the one visiting took trains or busses through half of London or the northern German countryside to finally meet up at their respective apartment.

There had even been the evening when Magda had to get the key to Pernille’s apartment from her neighbour and settle into Pernille’s bed (or was it still their bed in a way?) alone before Pernille joined her late in the night after she returned home from some away match that she had played the day before.

This time Pernille had succeeded in rescheduling some publicity appointments from the afternoon to the morning, which meant that she was still busy right now but that they would have the whole day for themselves once they finally met up.

Even this part of the journey had become familiar by now. Magda knew which kind of ticket to get, she knew the platform and she knew where to buy her bread roll to have breakfast on the train.

She tried to hold the paper bag with the bread roll under her arm, while she was fiddling with the change she had gotten after paying at the bakery. For whatever reason using cards to pay with was still pretty unpredictable in Germany. Sometimes it worked, often it didn’t, especially if the card she tried to use used an account that was run in a different currency. She had simply given up trying to find out when her card was accepted and when it wasn’t, letting Pernille pay during her visits and having some cash for little purchases like these.

The Euro coins and bills lingered in her wallet even when she returned to England, making her wallet unnecessarily big and heavy and constantly being in the way when they mixed with the pounds. She always intended to take them out until her next trip but she never did, basically knowing from the beginning that she wouldn’t.

Telling herself that by now there was really no point in removing them because the next trip would be soon anyway just made her so happy- even if it had just been a few days since she had returned and she absolutely knew there were still several weeks until she would need this money again.

She got on the train and settled into a seat. She texted Pernille that she was on her way with no delays to be expected and decided that five lines of heart surrounded smileys was the appropriate amount to let Pernille know how immensely much she looked forward to seeing her again. Well... Actually, it wasn’t... She added ten more lines alternating heart surrounded smileys and hearts in different colours.

She wasn’t expecting an answer any time soon, considering that Pernille was busy, but who knew? She kept the phone in her hand just to be sure, watching the outskirts of Hannover roll by after the train had departed.

Her life was great. Being a professional football player was all she had ever wanted. And although there certainly still was room for improvement the possibilities she had today were much better than anybody had expected even a few years ago.

Anyway, all of this would be worthless, if she hadn’t known that the same applied to Pernille, but lucky enough it did!

Following Pernille’s success in Wolfsburg was almost as important to her as her own in Chelsea.

And for them to have these possibilities meant that she had to take an early flight on a morning after a demanding game, now sitting here trying to keep her eyes open so she didn’t miss the station to get off, just to be able to at least spend some time with her girlfriend. She never doubted their decision, this was what they both wanted, but often she just missed Pernille. It was as simple as that. She wanted her to be there but she wasn’t.

Mostly the longing for her was just lingering somewhere in the background. But in certain moments it crept up on her and then she missed her so intensely that it almost physically hurt.

She got off the train. Down one flight of stairs, up the next one to the next platform, waiting for the next train. There was a clock on a pillar at the platform - just 43 more minutes! 43 minutes until they would be together again!

They knew that they had to make the time count; value every moment they had together. 

A smile sneaked on her face when she remembered how she woke up in the night during Pernille’s last stay in London, becoming aware that Pernille was there, before she was even sufficiently awake to consciously remember that she had arrived the day before.

She couldn’t even tell what it was that made her aware of Pernille’s presence. Had she felt her warmth beside her? Had she recognised her scent?

She slowly opened her eyes. Even though they had two blankets there was mostly only one in use in their rare nights together, huddling together as if they could make up for the kilometers that usually lay between them.

A little light was creeping in from a streetlamp outside. She could see the back of Pernille’s shoulder where the blanket had slid down; her hair spread out on the pillow.

Magda slit an arm around her girlfriend's waist, pulling her even closer. Pernille started to stir, groaning. Magda buried her face in Pernille’s neck.

The groaning turned into a mumble. ‘Magda, _ vad fan… _?’

Pernille turned around in her arms, looking at her drowsily. ‘_ Vad är klockan _?’ 

Magda kissed her gently glancing with one eye at the numbers at the clock radio on her nightstand, showing 3:30 am.

‘_ Halv fyra… _’ she whispered.

Pernille groaned, closing her eyes again, but the badly disguised smile on her face told Magda that her endeavour wasn’t met with as much resistance as it seemed.

‘_ Du har väl knappast kommit hit för att sova, eller hur... _?!’ Magda whispered, her lips almost touching Pernille’s ear.

No, of course Pernille hadn’t come here to sleep and it didn’t take much more for Magda to accomplish her mission to remind her of that.

Just a few hours later she had dropped Pernille off at the airport and while Pernille could at least rest on the plane she had to drive to training.

They were professional enough to not let their situation interfere with their football playing. No, of course not! They would never ever risk a game because of too little sleep or too much traveling and also in this training Magda certainly didn’t take it easier than usual even though it cost her a tremendous amount of concentration and energy.

Afterwards, she fell asleep in an armchair in their clubhouse.

She woke up to a group of grinning teammates, who totally were aware why she seemed to have dropped off the face of the earth the day before.

‘Some extra workout with Pernille last night, eh?!’ She got some winks and thumbs up.

She gave them the finger and went to find a treatment couch that wouldn’t be in use for the next few hours, deeming the option of throwing herself into London’s traffic to get home to sleep not a wise choice right now.

The incoming train retrieved her from her thoughts. She got on and found her seat. While the train departed she checked her phone for messages. No answer yet. She stared out of the window, watching the fields, pastures and small sections of forests fly by; wind turbines turning in the distance.

If she was honest she hadn't really been too offended by her teammates teasing. On the contrary. She had felt a slight tingle of pride that they all knew how she had spent the previous day. Just as she liked to now and again share something about their relationship on social media or in interviews. It was a little ridiculous, maybe. Like a teenager who wanted everyone to know about their wonderful girlfriend or boyfriend. Look, everyone, this intelligent, beautiful and goal-scoring woman is mine!

But what could you do? Pernille was intelligent, beautiful and goal-scoring, so there was every reason to be proud.

To her defence Pernille was even more forthcoming, maybe because all the publicity stuff had always come easier to her.

But maybe also - as Pernille had told her, when Magda noted that maybe there was no immediate necessity for pictures of her out there when she tired and with ruffled hair was eating lunch after just having arrived for another fleeting visit - because she was just as proud that this intelligent, beautiful and goal-chances shattering defender was hers and she wanted the world to know that.

Well, and since they both had realised how important their openness was for quite a few people, they had a really good excuse for every picture they shared of each other and every time the girlfriend was mentioned in an interview. No one could claim anymore this was just about showing-off.

Magda’s phone beeped. Considering the number of heart smileys Pernille’s massage started with, she certainly looked just as much forward to their meeting as Magda did, telling her she would probably be at the train station almost in time.

They had found ways to deal with the situation; means to feel close to each other, even though they mostly weren’t.

They kept in touch with FaceTime dates in the evenings, telling each other about the events of the day and their plans for tomorrow. During the day there was a lot of texting back and forth. There was hardly ever a moment when Magda didn’t know what Pernille was doing. 

She had never even been aware that the house got a different scent, when the two of them were living together, because it had always been there. Now that scent was gone after each visit just a short time after Pernille had left and Magda missed it desperately.

There was a way to keep it around for a little bit longer, though, especially for the evenings and nights when she wanted to fall asleep.

In the beginning it had been a T-shirt that Pernille - as far as Magda knew - actually forgot when she left after a visit in London and that Magda started to wear at night.

Pernille recognised it during one of their FaceTime calls and apparently liked the idea.

It became a game for a while:

The next time when Magda came home from Wolfsburg she realised that one of her T-shirts was missing even though she was pretty sure that she had packed it. She didn’t need to wonder where it had ended up for a very long time as its current whereabouts became apparent a day later on a late night FaceTime call.

When Pernille was packing her things at the end of her next stay in London, one of her shirts had just mysteriously and untraceably disappeared and Magda happened to ‘find’ it under her sofa cushion the minute Pernille had left and she demonstratively wore it for their evening chat, after Pernille had returned home.

By now they had ended the filching and mostly just agreed on which clothes to exchange. They both knew how much they were missing each other and that everything that helped to deal with that was highly welcomed.

But of course all of that wasn’t enough. Of course that couldn’t make up for really being together. Pernille’s shirts absorbed Magda's own scent after just two nights. The FaceTime pictures could be all clear and bright, but sometimes she just wished she could lift her hand to touch Pernille’s hair. She just wanted to hear her voice not being processed by technology. She wanted to be able to hug and kiss her and, well, then of course there was a lot more they both regularly wished for but which certainly would require the other’s actual attendance.

She had read somewhere that the benefit of a long distance relationship was that it made you so much more appreciative of the little things that you hadn’t even noticed and just taken for granted before.

It was true that she hadn’t really been able to fully grasp what it had meant that Pernille was always there, just really there, and not a moving and talking picture on an iPad.

But how _ i helvete _ was realizing just how many things she could miss about Pernille supposed to be a benefit?!

She would definitely have preferred to never have to find out because she would definitely have preferred to never have to miss her like that in the first place!

However, Magda wasn’t spending her time in London constantly pondering when they finally could see each other again. She played football and had fun with teammates and friends. 

But that only worked for her because she knew that these contracts would end and the next ones would come and even if it didn’t work out by then, a football career was highly limited by age and was over at some point. She intended to use all the opportunities she had until then, but it also meant that this was not what things would be like for the rest of their lives, but that eventually they were heading for a future together.

As demanding as managing their relationship was right now, all of this was not at all a strain on their performance, on the contrary. There certainly were specific moments when her fitness was afflicted by a night with little sleep or hectic travels but the strength she gained from their relationship by far compensated for that . 

There were their visits of course that helped to refuel, even if they just lasted a day or two.

But even if they weren't seeing each other, maybe didn’t even have much time to talk to each other for a few days, just knowing that Pernille was out there somewhere and that they belonged together made every struggle and exhaustion more bearable and every victory even more glorious.

They made it work. In their way, as always.

Other people would probably compromise. Accept that they might not reach their full potential, but settle for the second or third best option, if that meant that they could spend more time together.

Well, if they were like other people, they wouldn’t have been the only girls among dozens of boys coming in dirty and wet after school recesses spent on the football court and while the boys might have had wet knees from falling, they would have been completely soaked from head to toe because there had been a ball that they certainly wouldn’t let go just because that meant a dive into the Scandinavian snow slush.

For them making it work meant that they gave football their all. And that they wanted their girlfriend to do the same. That was their way!

The train arrived. She was there! A few more minutes… Also here she knew by now where she should wait because it was easiest for Pernille to pick her up there.

Watching out for someone to collect you with a car in this town was really ridiculous! Finally, there she was! No… she wasn’t… For the fifth time now she thought it was Pernille but as soon as the licence plate came in sight or she could recognize the driver it turned out it wasn’t her.

Were there even non-VW cars in this town? 

It was of course this company not only sponsoring the town’s football club but dominating the town and the whole area that gave Pernille’s club the possibilities it had, but this was fucking annoying! If Pernille could have a say in her car next time she really needed to choose a less popular model or a colour that was a little more distinct! 

There she was! This time for real! 

Pernille’s car stopped. Magda opened the back door, throwing her backpack on the backseat. Pernille turned around and smiled at her. _ ‘Hej _!’, she said.

Magda smiled back. _ ‘Hej _!’ It was remarkable how much happiness and relief you could put into just one syllable. Here they were! Finally!

She shut the back door, opened the front door and got in the passenger seat. Pernille reached out for her, pulling her into a tight embrace. She hugged her back, burying her face in Pernille’s hair. One arm around her waist, one around her shoulders.

She lifted her head to look at Pernille’s face. The blue of her eyes never got across on an iPad screen. She entangeld her fingers in Pernille’s hair. Her lips found Pernille’s and the world disappeared. Try this on _ jävla _ FaceTime!!

Someone honked behind them. They were blocking the exit to the car park. They let go of each other. Pernille raised her hand, waving apologetically at the driver behind her.

She put the car in first gear and drove off. Magda’s eyes caught the clock on the dashboard.

Her plane back would take off in 29 hours and 37 minutes. Minus time for check-in, security and boarding… They had so little time together and they would make these hours count.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I used to have the whole one-shot collection in one story with several chapters, before I discovered that AO3 offers series. This used to be Spring- Part A, but when I made that an extra story I couldn’t take along the comments…  
So this is just to keep the initial comments to that story…

Theis used to be Spring - Part A.

Just to keep the comments...


End file.
